![Innovative Cell Therapy]()
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) weakens the immune system by killing the CD4+ T cells that play a key role in the immune response. Current treatment can potently and effectively suppress HIV infection but don’t provide cures: Some HIV-infected cells can persist for years as reservoirs that reintroduce active infection within weeks of stopping treatment. Einstein’s Harris Goldstein, M.D., and collaborators at 17 medical sites in the United States and abroad, will develop approaches for curing HIV infection. They’ll carry out their efforts through the BELIEVE (Bench to Bed Enhanced Lymphocyte Infusions to Engineer Viral Eradication) project. BELIEVE is part of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Martin Delaney Collaboratory program, which fosters public-private partnerships to accelerate HIV/AIDS cure research and has received a $28 million, five-year NIH grant. Dr. Goldstein will serve as principal investigator for one of BELIEVE’s four research areas. His $1.3 million portion of the grant will involve reprogramming natural killer cells to make them better at targeting HIV-infected cells in vivo throughout the body when combined with broadly neutralizing antibodies. BELIEVE is led by Dr. Douglas Nixon of George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dr. Goldstein is professor of pediatrics and of microbiology & immunology, as well as director of the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research and associate dean for scientific resources. He also holds the Charles Michael Chair in Autoimmune Diseases.
Posted on: Tuesday, September 06, 2016